St. Cloud, Minn. – In a wild game at the Rock Pile on Friday night, the St. Cloud Rox (13-6, 37-17) beat the Rockford Rivets (10-10, 27-29) by a final score of 7-6 to stay at the top of the Northwoods League standings.

The Rox hold a half-game lead in the second half standings, and a three game lead in the overall standings with 17 games remaining in the regular season. The Rox have the best record in the Northwoods League, meaning if the season were to end today they would have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Friday’s game featured five lead changes and both Rox manager Augie Rodriguez and second baseman Drew Freedman (Nova Southeastern) were ejected from the game by the two-man umpire crew.

Both teams had their bats working early. Rockford took 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Rox would quickly answer. Michael Strem (Boston College) continued to pace the Rox offense, driving home two runs with a double in the first, putting the Rox ahead 2-1.

Strem would remain hot all night, tallying three hits in three at bats, including the two-run double, as well as scoring twice. Strem has 11 hits in his last eight games, and has tied Ricky Ramirez (McNeese State) for the team lead in RBI with 33 this season.

Mason Mamarella manufactured a run in the second to increase the lead. He led off with a bunt single and stole a base before two groundouts brought him home. He would have two hits in the game, and collected five hits in seven at bats in the series against the Rivets.

Another St. Cloud run would come home in the third. Ramirez led off the inning by being hit by a pitch, and Luke Ringhofer (South Dakota State) drew his league-leading 50^th walk of the season.

Rockford retook the lead in the top of the fifth by scoring three runs. Rodriguez was tossed in the bottom of the fifth for arguing that the Rivets first baseman did not have his foot on the bag for a putout of Denis Karas (Cal Berkeley). The Rox would respond to the ejection by bringing home another run on the next batter, with a Brett Pope (Western Carolina) lifting a sacrifice fly to plate Strem.

The Rivets took the lead again in the seventh, and like they had done all night the Rox responded by pulling the lead right back. A walk and two singles loaded the bases for St. Cloud, and Pope would answer the call once again, delivering with a two-run single.

In the late innings the Rox turned to their lockdown relievers, and they came through once again. Collin Strall (LSU) took over on the mound in the seventh and worked two innings of scoreless, one-hit ball. Brian Glowicki (Minnesota) came on in the ninth looking for his second out in two games. He found just that with an 11 pitch perfect inning, including a strikeout to end the game. He has now thrown 13.0 innings without allowing a run or a walk and has seven saves.

The Rox will continue their eight game home stand on Saturday night as they host the Thunder Bay Border Cats at 6:05 p.m. It will be Rox Batting Glove Giveaway presented by Central Minnesota Credit Union. The first 300 kids 14 and under will receive a pair of batting gloves.

Tonight’s St. Cloud Times Player of the Game was Brian Glowicki for another dominant pitching performance. For more coverage of the Rox during the 2016 season visit www.sctimes.com.

For more stats and information about the game, here is the boxscore.

Single game tickets can be purchased 24 hours a day at www.stcloudrox.com, by calling (320) 240-9798 or by visiting the Rox ticket office located at the Municipal Athletic Complex.

The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 150 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and on Google Play.